UW’s Melinkovich Receives National Manufacturing Certification

May 17, 2012

Matt Melinkovich has been named a certified black belt -- in
manufacturing.

Melinkovich, a field engineer from the University of
Wyoming's Manufacturing-Works,
was named a certified black belt at the Manufacturing Innovation 2012
Conference, which took place in Orlando, Fla., May 5-9. He is only the 24th
person nationally to receive this particular certification.

The certification allows Melinkovich, who serves
northeastern Wyoming, to lead all growth aspects of companies anywhere in the
U.S. However, because he is an UW employee, Melinkovich will provide his
expertise only in Wyoming.

"Black belt is a certification that allows you to bring
growth services to the state," Melinkovich says. "We are able to use another
suite of tools that have been proven to help generate ideas more quickly and
reduce the risk for businesses. A lot of reasons why companies don't come up
with new ideas are because of cost and risk."

Manufacturing-Works, designed to assist manufacturing
businesses in Wyoming, is part of the Business Assistance Network that is a
partnership program with the Wyoming
Business Council. Manufacturing-Works is funded by the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST)
in a program -- the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) -- that NIST manages. Manufacturing-Works also receives funding from UW and the Wyoming
Business Council.

"The biggest concern in Wyoming and across the country is
that businesses think they can lean themselves into success," says Larry Stewart,
director/founder of Manufacturing-Works. "We can't compete with the Chinese (on
that front). We have to be innovative. People only care when you have a new
idea."

"That's what black belt's (certification) all about," he
continues. "It's a proven, in a practical way, to grow business by the
development of their (businesses') own good ideas."

Major Metal Service and SolvingTech (both based in Gillette),
Kennon Products (Sheridan) and Mountain Meadow Wool (Buffalo) are some of the
primary companies Melinkovich advises. His service area includes 200 to 300
companies in Campbell, Crook, Johnson, Sheridan and Weston counties, where he
is currently working with about 30 companies.

"Our focus is to work with manufacturing, mainly, and other
industry to help them with growth and innovation to help their businesses
grow," says Melinkovich, who works out of the UW Outreach Building in Gillette.

Getting the Maine
points

To receive his certification, Melinkovich traveled to EUREKA
Ranch in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged in a University of Maine program
for certification. There, he took two classes, each for two days -- six months
apart. The courses include about 100 hours of homework, which focused on using
exercises learned in coursework and Melinkovich applying those concepts to his
clients' needs.

The final exam, which he had seven days to complete, was
called "Create, Communicate and Commercialization." Melinkovich worked with a client to come up
with 12 potential innovative business ideas. He helped the business winnow the
ideas to three, before having the client pick one idea to pursue.

"The idea is to get businesses to always work on a new
innovative product or idea every six months and have something in the
pipeline," Melinkovich explains. "That will facilitate growth."

The certification studies included discussion and use of the
"Deming cycle," named after W. Edwards Deming, Melinkovich says. In the 1950s,
Deming proposed that business processes should be analyzed and measured to
identify sources of variations that cause products to deviate from customer
requirements. Deming, a UW graduate who spent some of his early years on a farm
near Powell, recommended that businesses have their processes continuously
reviewed for feedback in order to improve them.

"Dr. Deming went to Japan after World War II and taught
Japan how to build cars," Melinkovich says.